We had 2 hour direct flights both ways, so travel was really easy. Both kids were super good on our flights. Chris was my seat buddy, and Sarah sat with Daddy. We flew out in the evening, so it was pretty late by the time we made it to our hotel. Both kids were ready to crash for a good night's sleep before our first day of fun.
We spent our first day at Sea World. They don't do the dolphin and whale shows like they used to, which is kind of sad, but they have added several neat interactive exhibits that the kids loved.
I have always loved petting the bat rays. They are so friendly!
My favorite was the fish manicure. These fish nibble the dead skin cells off your hands. It feels so funny! We had these in the rivers in Hawaii. Chris was very concerned about the fish all over my hand.
Of all things, Sarah couldn't wait to see the flamingoes. She was super excited.
We bought some food to feed the flamingoes, and suddenly the pigeons were our best friends. This one hopped right into Kelson's hand.
This may have been the happiest moment of Sarah's day. Who figured we would go to Sea World and the most thrilling animal would be the pigeons?
The turtle tank was awesome!
Sarah rode the water raft ride with Daddy. Can you tell it was 92% humidity that day? Sarah's hair was very exciting.
Chris loved having some wiggle time in the bouncy area while Sarah was riding with Daddy.
Sarah loved the swings! We did this one twice.
By closing time, we were all completely worn out. We grabbed some delicious carne asada burritos from a taco shop and headed back to our hotel for dinner at the pool. The kids loved spending the evenings in the pool and hot tub.
We kicked off day two at Balboa park. We watched ducks, turtles, and koi in the lily pond while we waited for the arboretum to open.
It was a challenge to avoid letting either kid fall in.
One of our favorite things to do when we lived in San Diego was go to the Sunday afternoon organ concerts at the organ pavilion at Balboa park. We were sad that the timing wouldn't work out for us to go on the Sunday we were in town. As it turned out, the organist was there practicing for the next day's performance. Special concert just for us! Sarah thought the giant organ was awesome.
A little playground time to get the wiggles out.
Saturday afternoon, we headed to Coronado to play on one of our favorite beaches. Both of the kids were terrified of the waves, but they loved playing in the sand.
It was such a perfect beach day! It was hot outside and the water was unusually warm. Nothing better than playing on the beach with my family!
This girl loves her daddy like crazy.
Chris was very grateful when the waves were kind enough to fill a hole with water so he could get wet without getting near the waves.
Our little sugar donut. It was a serious bath that night.
Checking out the professional sand castle creations in front of the Hotel Del Coronado
The tide pools there were awesome. We saw lots of fish, anemones, crabs, and even an octopus. There were also tons of shells for the kids to collect.
The tide pools were much friendlier than the scary ocean.
Our next stop was across the Silver Strand in Imperial Beach at Oasis Famous Ice Cream. This is our favorite ice cream shop ever. They make all of their ice cream themselves, and it is the most flavorful ice cream I have ever had. Sarah agreed that it was amazing.
This was one of our favorite places when we lived in San Diego. It was so fun to share it with our kids.
On Sunday, we went to church in our old ward and saw lots of old friends. Things have changed a lot in the 5 years since we left, but we were able to see lots of people. After church, we took the kids to the temple. This temple is so beautiful!
Sarah is a little bit silly.
After dinner, we went to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site in Old Town. The kids' favorite part was panning for gold at the end.
At dinner, Sarah was very excited to learn that broccoli was an option on the kids menu. She ate every bite. I have weird kids.
Monday, we started our day at the San Diego Botanic Garden. Sarah spends a lot of time working in the garden with us, and she loves plants. This was an exciting place for her.
Everything grows in San Diego. It was fun going from desert landscapes to tropical gardens.
They had a great children's garden. The kids had lots of fun with these blocks. Daddy built Sarah a bed. Where is Sarah?
There she is! Daddy is fun.
Climbing the treehouse
Sampling random tropical fruits. The orangelo was really tasty- kind of like a grapefruit/orange. There was one from Mexico that had a really dry texture and the flavor of a sweet potato. It was not good.
From the garden in Encinitas, we drove to Hemet to visit Kelson's grandma. This is how Kelson eat's fruit snacks. They have to be inventoried first. He is weird.
We love Grandma Elaine, and we were so glad we could spend some time with here while we were in California. We spent a lot of time at her house in Escondido when we lived there, and we miss being close. Sarah and Chris were very excited to meet all of her friendly dogs.
Sarah has happy memories of kite flying at the beach a couple of years ago, and she was determined that we needed to fly kites again. We found one on clearance, and she thought it was the most exciting thing ever.
Our last full day of vacation was spent at the San Diego Zoo. As Sarah would tell you, this place is "hugenormous". The first place we went was the reptile house, and the first snake came right out to see us. It was feeding day for the reptiles, but Sarah didn't seem too concerned that the snakes were in the process of eating rats.
Riding the Galapagos tortoise
The orangutans were one of our favorites. They interacted a lot with each other, and it was fun to watch.
Popping up out of the ice in the seal den
She wanted to climb on the eagle, but she was happy when I suggested she hug it instead.
Elephants!
Riding the sky ride. Unfortunately, Kelson lost his wallet when we were getting on or off the ride, which we realized after we left the zoo. It was the miracle of our trip that someone turned the wallet in with all of the content intact and we didn't have to worry about getting on a flight with no ID the next day.
We managed to see the entire zoo in about 7 hours, which was a ton of walking. The kids were troopers, and they loved the whole thing. Their pregnant mommy was dying by the end.
After the zoo, we drove out to La Jolla for one more beach trip. Chris was sleeping, so we left him in the car with Daddy and Sarah and I went on a walk to see the sea lions at La Jolla cove.
The sea lions and seals were popping up in the tide pools, which was really fun to watch. There were even cute baby ones.
After Chris woke up, we went over to La Jolla Shores and flew the kite one more time, followed by more beach time. Kelson was happy as a clam playing in the waves and looking for fish. You can see him in the distance.
Two happy, sandy kids.
Chris needed his hands and face washed off in the ocean, and after that, he declared that he was done. He curled up in my lap, and we happily cuddled while Daddy and Sarah finished their beach time.
We love living in Idaho, but we sure do miss the beach!
This was a perfect way to finish our last evening in San Diego.
Before we flew out on Wednesday afternoon, we went to the San Diego Children's Museum. There was tons to do, and the kids had a great time.
I told Chris to look through the triangle so everything would look green. He got close.
Sarah and Daddy built a giant tunnel of pillow rings
Then she needed to build a whole room-sized tunnel. She crawled through the whole thing. So did a toddler, who then bit Sarah's finger. That was the end of the tunnel adventure.
Chris would have happily watched scarves get sucked up the wind tunnel all day.
This was so cool! You got to color a sea creature and then scan it with the camera. Then it appeared swimming around on the screen. Daddy's sea turtle ate Sarah's jellyfish.
Doing a little reading in the rainy house.
Adding a layer of pumpkin colored paint to a truck
Sarah is fearless in playgrounds. She had no problem crawling through the spiderweb.
A little dress-up
From the children's museum, we went to the airport. All went smoothly except for a little attack of hangriness as we were going through security. Nothing a few chicken nuggets couldn't cure.
This was a wonderful trip. The kids were happy and had so much fun. We made some great family memories.
